The Queen is passionate about crochet and she is always looking for ways to "hook" her readers into reading about her weekly crochet ramblings.

Monday, September 20, 2010

My Crochet Home

Monday, October 11, 2010So much is going on in my "Fiber Community" that I decided to add on here. Tonight I will begin the 2nd session of tunisian crochet: Tutti Frutti Tunisian Baby cap. The numbers have leveled off; I only have two students. But that's okay; they are enthusiatic and have waited for this class to be offered on Monday.

I have also started a Tunisian Crochet-Along with Doris Chan's design: Tokyo Vest. Students can pay-as-you-go and we're meeting the first Sat. of Oct,Nov. and Dec. for them to check in with me and work out the kinks when they get stumped on the pattern.

Monday, September 20, 2010I was not the first to discover Fuzzy Wuzzy Yarn Store in Arlington Heights, IL, but as soon as I heard about it in January, I got over there and introduced myself to Chris, the owner. I made it very clear to her from the beginning that I am a passionate crocheter and I would be interested in teaching crochet in her shop.

Obviously, by the name of her store, I could tell that she is running a crochet-friendly place! From the begnning, Chris was open to most anything I wanted to teach. Since someone was already teaching beginners and since I have pretty much taught my share of beginners, I offered an intermediate class which was a colorful sampler pillow done in Cascade 220 wonderful wool. I had just one student but that was okay because she was a wonderful student and great person. Pam, it turns out, started he charity Halos of Hope, www.halosofhope.org which provides chemo caps for cancer victims. Long story short, I made some connections for her and she now is featured in a book piublished by DRG with Chemocap patterns in it (Chemo Caps & Wraps) A percentage of the profits goes to Halos of Hope! Just last week, Pam launched the book at Fuzzy Wuzzy and signed the books. It was a fun evening and great turn out from the crocheters.

I taught a successful bead-crochet class at Fuzzy Wuzzy and have repeated it and will be teaching it again this week! I love bead-crochet and I love seeing the students' faces light up when they get it and really take off and make lots of bracelets!

At the beginning of August I offered to run Crochet Connection every Tuesdy morning. The idea is to get crocheters into the store to crochet, chat and connect! Hopefully, with a little crochet talk, exposure to great yarn and patterns and some limited help from me, they will get enthused to take crochet classes Little by little we will build up the interest in crochet classes, hopefully, to both crocheters AND knitters! I have a "faithful three" attending each week and a few othrs whodrop in now and then. It is fun; I get some crocheting done and learn a few things myself!

Last week I taught the second of two sessions on Tunisian Crochet. The project was Tutti Frutti Tunisian Baby Cap and the design was used with permission from Angela Melara. Years ago, I took her class and learned the technique at the Chain Link Crochet Conference. More recently, I made the cap for granddaughter, Baby Chloe, and it does make an excellent baby gift. This turned out to be a very successful class wih eight, yes eight, students! Chris has been very happy about this and it is always a quandrey as to what will attract crocheters to the LYS! Apparently, the technique of Tunisian is different to most people and the look of entrelac knitting attracted many to want to learn.

I volunteerd to make several crochet swatches for Chris to hang with the various yarns and just finished another one in Kraemer Yarn done in tunisian crochet. It should catch the es of a few knitters. Chris had asked me to make a shop model for the store with Frog Tree 100% alpaca It' a kit and the jacket is called Origami I worked on it for two months and finally gave it to Chris last week. I talked about it last week and posted a pic, but here it is again. Chris is blocking it and then it will go on display.

You are beginning to get the picture about how I say Fuzzy Wuzzy is my home , right? It is comfortable and Chris is building a community of stitchers who are frequenting the store and engaging harmoniously in "fiber frenzy" there and hopefully making her business a success. I would say she is doing most everything right to succeed. I will miss that community when I am gone this winter to Mexico for three months, but I plan on bringing back new ideas and fresh prospective in the Spring!

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About Me

As Founder of the Crochet Guild of America, I share my passion for crochet wherever and whenever: teaching, writing, crocheting in public! I'm proud to introduce my third book, The Fine Art of Crochet (published in June 2013 by Author House).